States of Matter

 Matter is composed of small particles for example, we can take a unit of sugar cube and crush it into powder. This shows that a single sugar cube is made of several small sugar particles. Now, we can take the a glass of water, put that powdered sugar in it and stir it well. We will observe the disappearance of sugar particles in water or we can say dissolution of sugar in water. By this process of stirring small sugar particles in water, we actually convert the small sugar particles into the much finer sugar particles that even we can't see with out naked eye. This experiment confirms that matter is an collection of much finer particles. 

Matter particles have some space between them. This can be observe by the fact that  while making tea or coffee, two or more components mix together followed by heating gives us a uniform tea/coffee. This can be only possible if there is space between the particles and they adjust themselves in the space on heating. 

Sometimes, two or more components mix at room temperature only. They do not require heating. For example, salt and water can be mixed simply by stirring at room temperature. Stirring provides the collision of salt particles with water molecules as a result salt particles breaks into much finer particles and adjust themselves in the space between the water molecules.

Particles of matter are always in continuous motion. They have some kinetic energy. This property of matter can be observed by an experiment. You can take a glass of water, add few drops of ink to it and leave undisturbed for few minutes. After sometime, you will notice that ink is evenly distributed in the water. This process of distribution of ink on its own (due to the motion of particles) called diffusion.

This motion of particles or kinetic energy of the particles also depends on temperature. As temperature goes up, kinetic energy of the particles increases.  

The particles of matter are attracted toward each other by some force of attraction. This forces of attraction can be weak or moderate or strong, depending on the type of matter. We can understand this by an activity with water. Take a mug of water, put your finger inside and try to separate the water particles. They merge with each other again. This is due to the attractive force between the water molecules. 

We can also take another example of honey. Take a small portion of honey in small bowl, and try to separate honey particles with your fingers. They are more viscous, takes extra energy in this work. From this, we can say that the attractive forces between honey particles are stronger than the attractive forces of water particles.